Staples is business to business. You’re what binds us together.

Our talented finance team partners with every area of the business to drive results and provide financial expertise. We are passionate about analyzing and interpreting information to assess performance and provide guidance. Our team serves as a true partner and advisor to all our business leaders; working with them to accelerate the company’s profitability and growth.  

As the Public Sector Bids Manager, you will be part of a winning team collaborating with sales, supply chain, category merchant, and legal teams.  You will develop and lead a team of 4 analysts.

What you’ll be doing: 

• Hire, onboard, develop, and challenge associates on your team.
• Manage the inbound queue of work
  • Triage projects as they enter the queue
  • Assign projects to team members
  • Monitor project progress and make adjustments to assignments or stakeholder expectations as needed
  • Track, report and drive improvement in team service levels 
• Provide deal leadership to your team and stakeholders
  • Assess opportunity and analyze customer data
  • Identify gaps, discrepancies, or other issues with data provided by customer
  • Leverage customer information, Staples systems, and other departments as necessary to effectively model account-specific cost-to-serve
  • Develop account-specific pricing strategies, recommendations, and alternatives, and model deal P&L
  • Communicate pricing strategies, rationale, recommendations, and risks to revenue management leaders, account executive, sales directors, and senior leadership
  • Shape and document the deal terms
  • Complete customer quote documents
• Ensure governance rules are applied to large deals, low profit deals, and deals with non-standard terms
• For won deals, ensure deal pricing and terms are implemented correctly and timely.
• Influence sales leaders to leverage new tools and strategies.
• Initiate and execute process improvements within your team and/or across pricing teams
• Collect and maintain competitive data.      Provide periodic competitive updates to stakeholders
• Track and communicate bid activity, win rates and progress against goals

What you bring to the table

• Demonstrate accountability and sense of urgency for due dates and quality of work
• Proactive communications to ensure project stakeholders understand status and plan
• Ability to influence stakeholders
• Make personal connections across Staples departments to foster your own learning and best practice sharing
• Rapidly build knowledge of Staples categories, systems, organization, industry, and strategy
• Apply critical thinking to deals in order to proactively identify key issues, risks, challenges, and opportunities
• Achieve trackable margin improvements and/or profitable sales growth.

Qualifications:

What’s needed- Basic Qualifications

• 3+ years previous work experience in deals desk, pricing strategy, sales operations, or finance; experience collaborating/supporting sales teams
• Demonstrated skills with analytic/data tools (MS Excel, MS Access, SQL, or higher order analytic tools)
• Financial literacy: Quickly understands a P&L; identifies questions to understand the drivers; 
• Undergraduate or graduate level study concentrated in analytical- and/or financial-based areas such as business, accounting, economics OR equivalent work experience

What’s needed- Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Statistics, Marketing Analytics, or similar program
• At ease with data and numbers -- proficient in Excel, Access, Power BI, and experience with SQL and database reporting
• Experience using Business Intelligence reporting tools (e.g. Poer BI, Tableau and MicroStrategy)
• Working knowledge of data transformation tools e.g. Alteryx
• Previous work experience for supplier or distributor in a B2B model with vendor deviations/rebates
• Familiarity with B2B Pricing Software: Vendavo, Pros, Zilliant, Pricefx, …
• Experience in office products, facility supplies, school supplies, breakroom supplies, or pack & ship products

We Offer:

• Competitive salary.
• Inclusive culture with associate-led Business Resource Groups and resources such as the Social Justice Resource Centre.
• Flexible PTO and Holiday Schedule (10 observed paid holidays), Online and Retail Discounts, Company Match RRSP, Benefits and Physical and Mental Health Wellness programs.
• Growth & development opportunities.

At Staples, “inclusion” is an action word. It represents what we do to ensure that all employees feel valued and supported to contribute to their fullest potential. When we operate inclusively, diversity naturally follows. This is why we work hard to foster an inclusive culture, as we seek employees with unique and varied perspectives and areas of expertise. The result is a better workplace and innovative thinking that helps us exceed our customers’ expectations -- through the power of the people behind our iconic brand.

Staples is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.